modification 1

The panels ride lower but still have the airspace between the panels and roof.

summer vacation

This is what I did on my summer vacation. I did most of the work during the last week of July and managed to finish the heavy work before freight picked back up. Now it's a matter of rearranging and adjusting the final fit.

This project involved two parts--installing auxiliary batteries that are powered by solar panels and rearranging my storage.

The power system gives me electric power to run my computer, ventilation, electric cooler, and heater (yet to be installed) without having to use the van's battery. It consists of two solar panels mounted on a ladder rack, two agm batteries, and assorted charge controllers, fuses, and circuit breakers. The jury is out on how well this system will work, but it does produce electricity when the sun is out, and there is power available when I connect to the battery bank. More to follow as I get more photos and rearrange the controllers and wiring.
Where I lose almost three hundred pounds of cargo capacity with the solar panels and extra batteries, the rearranged shelves give me more than two extra feet of cargo space. I took the ikea shelves I installed previously and cut them in half, so their depth is less than the depth of my rear wheel-wells. Any freight that can get past the wheel wells will get past the shelves and can be pushed as far forward as the driver's seat.

All I need now is an auxiliary air conditioner that weighs nothing and requires no power.

another project

This is a different unrelated project.

doing it

People ask me how I manage both an over-the-road career and my art. For the most part I can manage it because it is all one interwoven, tightly knotted mess. Much of art is mindless, mind-numbing nothing with the occassional spark of something useful. I have chosen to use the road to channel the nothing part. The road even allows me an income and something to focus on outside a studio.

The doing-it part then becomes framed by the road part. A lot of studio time involves piddling about. I save the piddling for when I'm on the road and try to do as much piddling on the road, so that when it comes time for the quality studio time I can get the job done in an efficient manner. All the planning, designing, and inventing is done ahead of time. By the time I get to the studio (many times it's just a kitchen table), I have thought through all my construction methods and proportions, and can go right straight to work. If new ideas come about during the implementation phase, I'll ad lib only so far that it doesn't interfere with completing the project. If the new idea calls for a major redirection, I save the idea for the next project.

Technically, I could make my little books entirely in my vehicle. In reality I end up working more efficiently by only taking care of small repetitive jobs like stitching together pre-stacked signatures, or making small wire parts for mechanical projects. I save clumbsy and messy jobs like tearing paper and gluing things for when I can work outside the vehicle. I have small stashes of supplies with a few family and friends scattered across the country who then allow me a place to work when I come off the road or when freight gets slow.

I am in high production when freight is low. I'll park at one of my supply points and work on projects taking care to only take on projects that I can dump at a moments notice, because when a load offer comes in I have to be ready to roll. I'll route myself back to the supply point until freight picks back up and then I'm back into the road mode. I save my home time for when I want to take care of more involved work and for work in the gallery. Inspite of what could potentially be a great detractor from a driving career, I still manage to keep all my driving statistics like load acceptance, on-time, and in-service time at a high level.

tim's work

Tim's work from the Guardrail Damage Ahead show at 500X Gallery is also on display at his website--www.timcbest.com. See his listings under Guardrail Damage Ahead aka the American Abstraction series, Efficiency Deficiency, and Wall (the red Jolly Rogers sculpture).

show highlights

Book highlights from the Guardrail Damage Ahead show.

guardrail damage ahead

For immediate release.

500X Gallery presents Guardrail Damage Ahead. The show runs April 4-25, 2009, with an opening reception on April 4, 6-10:00 P.M.

Guardrail Damage Ahead is an amalgamation of drawing, bookcraft, photography, and video.

Blake's work based on a prearranged system of order suggests a basic truth or an underlying code. Comically the code cannot be contained. He begins from a base of minimal line drawing on paper and steps into a world of small, simple books that take on a life of their own, spiraling out of control into something resembling a three ring circus--in a quiet sort of way.

Best works from a foundation based in the corporate culture. He takes the perspective from inside the business suit. What should have been order and security turns out to be something else altogether. The characters he has created in photographs and on the screen are groomed for control--self control, a controlled environment. But something has to give.

Guardrail Damage Ahead.

more show prep

500X Gallery. 500 Exposition Avenue. Dallas, Texas.
Opening reception: April 4, 2009. 6-10 pm.
www.500X.org

show prep

round two